2025 SESSION

ENROLLED

HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 838

Celebrating the life of William Denman Zirkle.

Agreed to by the House of Delegates, February 21, 2025

WHEREAS, William Denman Zirkle, a leader in the investment management profession and a passionate historian who made numerous contributions to the Commonwealth, died on January 31, 2025; and

WHEREAS, William Zirkle grew up in Roanoke and graduated from Thomas Jefferson High School; he continued his education at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, where he was an executive officer in the Corps of Cadets and a judge of the Cadet Honor Corps; he also graduated from the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania; and

WHEREAS, William Zirkle served the nation as a member of the United States Army at what is now Joint Base Langley-Eustis and in Frankfurt, Germany, and ultimately retired from the United States Army Reserve with the rank of lieutenant colonel; and

WHEREAS, after completing his active-duty military service, William Zirkle began his career with the IBM Corporation; he spent most of his career working in institutional investment management with Conrail, Lynch & Mayer, Lincoln National Corporation, and Franklin Templeton, then retired as chief executive officer of Carret Asset Management; and

WHEREAS, William Zirkle was a dedicated conservationist for historical landmarks and was deeply interested in military history; he served as a member of the Civil War Preservation Trust and as executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Battlefields Foundation for five years; and

WHEREAS, in 2012, William Zirkle became a managing partner of the Richard Böcking Winery, a winery in the Moselle Valley of Germany which had been owned and operated by his late wife's family since 1624, and where he worked with his daughter, Sigrid, until the final year of his life; and

WHEREAS, predeceased by his first wife, Dagmar, William Zirkle will be fondly remembered and greatly missed by his wife, Ann; his children, Micaela, Sigrid, Bettina, and William, and their families; his stepdaughter, Jennifer, and her family; and numerous other family members and friends; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED, That the House of Delegates hereby note with great sadness the loss of William Denman Zirkle; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the Clerk of the House of Delegates prepare a copy of this resolution for presentation to the family of William Denman Zirkle as an expression of the House of Delegates' respect for his memory.